The "proper" place of women

Genesis 1; 1 Timothy 2. Biblical-exegetical study from a Malawian Chewa Presbyterian woman's perspective

Isabel Apawo Phiri

We will begin this study by reading and reflecting on Genesis 1.26-2.4a in order to establish the original 'proper' place of women. We will also examine 1 Timothy 2.11-15 in order to examine one position of the place of women in the early church. Since the passages present us with two different positions, we will take a step further to examine the basis of 1 Tim 2 by re-reading Gen 2-3 from a woman's perspective. Once we are clear in our minds as to what is the proper place of a woman in the original plan of God, we will turn to the current place of Malawian women in the society and in the church. We will conclude the study by reflecting on some questions.This paper was reworked to include additional insights from participants of the consultation on the ordination of women. 

The 'proper' place of women according to Genesis 1.26-2.4a

Gen 1.26-2.4a and 5.1-2 make one unit. The first question that comes to mind is "What are the passages saying?" Let us read the passages. In Gen 1.26-2.4a, we are told that human species are composed of male and female. We are also told that human beings are a unit in nature and diverse in sex. As male and female, they were created in the image and likeness of God. What does 'in the image of God' mean? This image is not the physical appearance of any human , , but rather the ability to reason, to create and to take care of creation. Human beings are created in the image of God in order to live in relationship with God, to worship and to serve God.

In this passage, Adam, meaning man, is used as a generic term for humanity defined as male and female. Compare it with Gen 5.2. In this creation story, both male and female are of equal value in honour and dignity before God. The command to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth is given to both male and female human beings, contrary to what some male theologians have said in the past (Gen 1.28). Male and female humanity, in God's original plan, were to work in partnership to complement each other. Therefore, neither sex was superior or inferior to the other. 

The 'proper' place of women according to 1 Timothy 2.11-15

When we turn to 1 Tim 2.11-15, there is a change in the place of woman. The author¹ is saying that male and female are different in nature. Man is superior to a woman because Adam was formed first and Eve second. This order in creation has given man authority to rule over the woman. Therefore, woman should submit to man. The author argues that Eve was deceived and therefore became a sinner. What is implied here is that Adam does not take the blame for the fall of humankind, but Eve does. Furthermore, since women are inferior and the cause of sin, the author commands that women should learn in silence and not be allowed to teach or have authority over men.

It is important to note that on the basis of the author's interpretation of the Gen ' story, traditional and popular beliefs view Eve, the woman, as being inferior to Adam, the man, physically, socially, morally, intellectually and spiritually. Details of this inferiority are meticulously worked out by the rabbis and fathers of the church, whose teachings have formed and nourished centuries of opinion concerning women.²

Where do these ideas come from? It is possible to argue that the author is reflecting the position of women in Timothy's country, Asia Minor. It is also possible that the author is reflecting the Jewish interpretation of Gen 2.4b-4.2 of his time. In this paper we will concentrate on the former.

Woman in Genesis 2-4

What does Gen 2.4b-4.2 say about the proper place of women? In this passage, the term Adam refers to male, unlike the first passage where it refers to humankind. Man was the first to be formed (2.8). Man only was given the responsibility to cultivate and keep the garden. He was also given the power to give names to all of God's creations (2.15). The woman was created from the man's rib for the purpose of becoming man's helper. Her formation from man's rib rather than from his head, has been interpreted by the rabbis as symbolic of her inferior status. After the woman was created, she was given to the man and named by him. According to Semitic culture, to name someone gives you power to control that person. This is why 1 Tim 2 says that it was God's original plan that man should dominate woman.

Why are there two creation stories? Do both the passages really support the arguments of 1 Tim 2?

This paper suggests that the argument of 1 Tim 2 is based on misinterpretation of the Gen account and on failure to discern the distinctive purpose of each narrative. Modern study of the Bible has revealed that the two creation stories were folktales told orally for a long time from generation to generation. They were later written at different times in the history of Israel by different authors who had different purposes. As we read the creation stories we should bear in mind that we are faced with two worlds: the author's world which is the point of reference in the story and the distant past of the folktale. Thus the creation stories reflect what was happening during the time they were written.

The first creation story belongs to the Priestly tradition, written during the time of the Exile when the people of Israel were reflecting on God's purpose for her existence. This passage also reflects on the place of men and women in God's creation. The second creation story belongs to the Yahwist tradition, written during the time of King Solomon. One of the major purposes of this passage is to focus on the institution of marriage as created by God. It aims to communicate the fact that, from the beginning of creation, man and woman were destined to be husband and wife. Man was destined to belong to his wife rather than to his parents (2.24).

It is also important to mention that the stories were told, written and interpreted in a male dominated society. This is shown by a brief look at the position of women in the Jewish society. A few examples will show that from birth to death a woman belonged either to her father as a daughter or to her husband as a wife (Exodus 20.17; Deuteronomy 5.21). She had no control over her body. She was expected to be a virgin when getting married while the same was not expected of a man (22.13-21). She had no rights to divorce her husband (Deut 24.1-4).

Since our argument is that there are some positive things in the creation stories that have been ignored in the interpretation of the passages, our task is to discover what is written in the stories that is empowering to women. It is important here to remember the fact that in the second creation story, when woman was created, man felt complete. The fact that the woman was created to be the helper of man does not make her inferior to man. According to Phyllis Trible, the way the Hebrew word ezer (helper) has been used in Psalms 12.12, 142.8, 146.5, Ex 18.4 , Deut 33.7, 26 and 29, and Psalm 20.2 connotes superiority. In these passages God is described as the helper of Israel. However Phyllis accepts the fact that the accompanying phrase 'fit for' tempers the connotation of superiority to specify the mutuality of women and men.³ Furthermore, woman being created after man does not make her inferior as implied in 1 Tim 2, rather when she was created, God reached the climax of creation. It was necessary that she be created to make God's work complete. Teresa Okure has argued that the visual imagery of the creation of the woman from man's rib vividly illustrates both their identity in nature and their destined union as husband and wife in 'one flesh' (verse 24). She goes on to argue that it can even be said to symbolize their equality, since according to Augustine, they were thus intended to 'walk side by side' and 'together look where it is they walk'.⁴

A closer look at the story of the fall (Gen 3.1-4.2, 25) does not support the argument of 1 Tim 2.14 that it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. Gen 2.16-17 shows that the command not to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil was given to Adam before Eve was created. Further, Phyllis Trible has demonstrated that Adam and Eve were together throughout the conversation with the serpent unlike what the traditional interpretation has presented to us. She maintains that the crucial phrase, 'who was with her' is omitted in many translations of Gen 3.6⁵. This verse shows that both Adam and Eve bear equal responsibility for sin.

The disobedience to God became complete when Adam, too, ate the fruit. Adam was a willing participant in the act of disobedience. The fact that he kept quiet throughout the temptation demonstrates that his will-power to say no to sin was weak, unlike Eve who first objected and argued with the serpent. It was also Adam who was first accused of disobeying God as indicated in Gen 3.10-11.

It should be made clear that the woman was told that her husband was going to rule over her as a punishment for sin and not the way God intended it to be from beginning of creation. It is also in the punishment that we find division of roles according to gender between Adam and Eve. Eve's life revolves around pain in childbirth, sexual passion for her husband and her humiliating subservience to her husband.

But something else very important happened to the woman as a result of the fall of man and woman. She was made mother of all the living, co-creator of human beings with God (verse 20). Furthermore, it is her offspring who will defeat the serpent - thus bringing salvation to the human race from eternal death (verses 15, 19). On the other hand, Adam is also alienated from the earth. His role makes him come face to face with the plight of a farmer and a labourer.

If this interpretation of the passages of creation stories is correct, the proper place of woman is with man as partners. Both man and woman were created by God from one human nature as male and female. From creation God made them to belong together as husband and wife. Both of them sinned against God, contrary to what 1 Tim 2 says. Domination of man over woman came as a result of sin and punishment. It is not part of God's original plan for human beings. Salvation from eternal death came to both man and woman through Jesus Christ born from the virgin Mary. The coming of Jesus Christ meant the defeat of the serpent.

It has been observed that the reading of Gen by the author of 1 Tim 2 was with Jewish interpretation. While the author of 1 Tim 2 limits the completeness of woman through child birth, the author of Gen 1 maintains that man and the whole creation of God became complete when the woman was created. 

The place of a woman in Chewa tradition

The next question to consider is 'What is different about the passages and the lives of many Malawian women known to me?' All the cultures of Malawi have their own stories that explain people's beliefs about the origin of life and the place of men and women in religion and society. Without telling the actual stories due to lack of space, the Kaphirintiwa myth of the Chewa of Malawi, among other themes, expresses that man and woman came down to earth together with God and animals as a result of heavy rain. They landed on Kaphirintiwa, a flat-topped hill in the mountains of Dzalanyama where one can still see, to this day, the footprints and traces of a man and a woman and many animals. Thus from creation, there was equality between man and woman and harmony with animals and nature - a theological theme in African theology. Of interest to this study is the fact that on this place developed an important rain shrine which was headed by a succession of prophetess from the Banda clan and later Makewanas - mother of all people - from the Phiri clan.

Despite the fact that religious leadership was in the hands of women among the Chewa, the place of women in the traditional Chewa society leaves a lot to be desired. Women were treated as inferior to men in the families despite the fact that men move to their wives' villages after the wedding. Women were exposed to sexual abuse during the initiation. Young girls were given in marriage to men who were their father's age mates. In some cases, women were involved in polygamous and levirate marriages.

Women in the Church in Malawi

The coming of Christianity promised women freedom from some oppressive cultural practices such as traditional initiation ceremonies and polygamy. Christianity also opened its doors to offer women salvation and a place to work for God through the women's organizations. At the same time, Christianity introduced its own forms of oppression to Malawian women by denying them full participation in leadership positions.

While the Blantyre and Livingstonia Synods of the Church of Central African Presbyterian accept women as deaconesses and elders, Nkhoma Synod does not. Only a handful of women in the Presbyterian Church have received theological education through the Church's United Theological College. None of these women have studied up to a degree level in theology. Yet more and more men in the Presbyterian Church are studying theology to doctoral degree levels. In the case of men and women who have received the same level of theological education, their conditions of service are different when they start to work. Just because men are ordained to ministry, they get a higher salary, better accommodations and working conditions than women with the same level of theological education. Yet in most government, para-statal organizations and private companies, this is not the case.

The place of women in modern Malawi

A look at the place of women in modern Malawian societies also presents us with two pictures. One picture is grim and the other one full of hope for change. According to the population census of Malawi in 1988, women comprise about fifty-two percent of the total population of 8.2 million. Malawi has a population growth rate which is estimated at 3.7% per annum. This implies that the ordinary Malawian woman spends about 30 years of her life being pregnant, lactating and looking after children, both as a mother and a grandmother⁶. It also implies that between the ages of fifteen and forty-five, a rural woman will have an average of eight pregnancies⁷. In a country that has a tradition which considers having many children a symbol of success in life, no consideration is taken for the health of the women. Fortunately, the women themselves have realized that frequent pregnancies are a hazard to their lives and hamper their self development in all fields. A nationwide campaign of child spacing was launched, but resistance has been great from most of the men.

92.2% of Malawian women live in rural areas. Agriculture, including livestock, fishing and forestry, is one of the most important sectors of the economy which engages more than ninety-five percent of the population, of which 57.4% were women in 1984. In agriculture, women are employed largely as estate labourers. In education, seventy-five percent of the total population of women are illiterate. Both girls and boys have equal educational opportunities. However, the drop-out rate among girls at school is very high compared to boys. Some of the factors contributing to the retardation of female education in Malawi include: traditional values and customs, (e.g. polygamy, early marriages, teenage pregnancies and culturally held views about the value of a woman) and the colonial legacy (e.g. sexism in the curriculum, influence of economic incentives, influence of religious persuasions and inadequate job incentives for girls.)⁸

One notices a vicious circle in the lives of Malawian women. The culture demands that women have a lot of children, which puts their health in danger. Women are overworked at home as they look after children and house work. They cannot get a high paying job because they do not have enough education. They can not stay long at school. Due to the influence of some women who are aware of the plight of women in Malawi and are in influential government positions, programmes are being designed by the government to redress the situation of women.

On the other hand, the situation of women in the church is not changing because there are no women among the decision makers to speak on behalf of the three quarters of the church members. Reasons for not including women in the leadership positions of the church vary from one church to another. In the survey that I conducted in one Presbyterian church, four major reasons were given: the Bible does not permit women to have authority over men; our culture does not allow women to have authority over men; if women were brought to the leadership of the church, cases of immorality would increase among the leaders; and, women cannot handle leadership roles.

The responses given do not differ with the mentality of 1 Tim 2. These imply that the churches in Malawi have decided to take 1 Tim 2 seriously and ignore what other passages of the Bible say about the proper place of women. As it has been demonstrated in this study, the Bible does not present us with only one view of a woman's place in the church and society. Culturally, I happen to come from a Chewa culture which is matrilineal and in which, in the pre-Christian days, religious leadership was in the hands of women. Therefore among the Chewa, ⁹ it would not be culturally alien to have a woman in a church leadership position, because they have accepted that God uses women for religious leadership. Church men in Malawi have decided to forget this part of culture which I feel is important since some of the arguments against the ordination of women are based on culture.

Notes